It’s that time again that we talk about the competition: Ford is launching a new program that will allow buyers to customize the exterior appearance of their vehicles. The program, (generically) named Ford Custom Graphics, allows customers to pick from a series of vinyl graphics to add to the exterior of their Ford beauty.
The graphics – sold exclusively through Ford dealers – are scratch-resistant, weatherproof, and retain the vehicle’s original 3-year 36,000-mile warranty. We’ve put together a gallery below of some of these graphics for your enjoyment you to ridicule your Ford-loving friends.
The GM Authority Take
Oh boy, where do we start? It’s as if Ford took a page out of the customization strategies of certain PC companies (Dell and HP, for example) in letting consumers bring out their “uniqueness” through their product. The concept is great in hypothetical form, but not so much in execution. Let me draw a few parallels to the PC industry: first, the entire customization craze (as I like to call it), is very much a fad in the PC world. In fact, the undisputed king of design in the tech world is Apple – and it doesn’t offer any such customization options.
Apple doesn't stoop to customization options
But if I were not to draw any comparisons to the PC industry, most of these customizations look extremely tacky ugly dumb. Yes, perhaps I am a purist who prefers unfettered design: some of these graphics take what is an otherwise good-looking vehicle and give it the ugly treatment.
In either case, a niche may exist that really loves this idea and – in that case – Ford will sell them a vehicle. But beyond that, I don’t see a huge portion of the market giving their Fiestas, Fusions, and F-150s the custom graphics treatment, unless it’s for a corporate/business/fleet purpose (as shown on the Econoline and Transit Connect vans).
In the end, I’m not sure that Ford’s Custom Graphics program will last longer than a few months. Although it’s very possible that I’m completely off the mark here. Check out the Ford Custom Graphics website for yourself.
Comment
If anything else, hats off to Ford for taking a risk and seeing where it goes. We see things differently here though, as I feel this could really catch on. Especially in urban areas.